Be Bold! Featuring The Sweat Life

When I need a little workout motivation — or even a little life motivation — one of my fav resources is The Sweat Life, a fitness blog that’s all about inspiring you to live your best life.

Founder Aly Teich is a kick-ass, fit-ass kind of girl and I love how she and her team make fitness and wellness fun and not intimidating. Whether you’re looking for a new workout, personal tales of strength or the best way to incorporate cricket protein into your diet (😳), they’ve got it all covered!

Aly and team recently kicked off a new theme on the blog: being bold. I was thrilled to write a short essay on the many ways in which boldness is a part of my life, from the way I dress (in case you haven’t noticed lol) to some of my nontraditional career moves (ahem, this blog).

You can see the piece here or keep reading below. Thanks so much to The Sweat Life for the feature and keep the inspo coming!

Being Bold In Any Color, at Any Size

By Katie Sturino, Founder of The 12ish Style

For me, boldness means being true to yourself and following your passions. Maybe it’s my Italian roots showing through, but I have always been a bit bold in both how I dress and how I live my life.

That’s especially true when it comes to The12ishStyle, a blog I started last Spring. It came about very organically — Man Repeller featured me in a story about dressing for different body types and when I read the comments, I was overwhelmed to find so many women with similar bodies who were starved for examples of how to dress. I had always felt like the only size 12 in the room and was empowered to find I was not alone – the average woman in this country wears a size 14 after all! Through The12ishStyle, I hope to help other size 12ish ladies find self acceptance and to make confidence the first thing they put on in the morning.

When it comes to personal style, it’s no surprise I’m a big believer in embracing what you love. We all have our own private opinions about our bodies, but I think it’s really important to not hide behind your insecurities. Let’s face it, hiding doesn’t get you anywhere (unless it’s from an axe murderer…) and I think it really shows when a woman is trying to conceal her figure. We’ve all seen it — the girl who wears pants on a 90 degree day or never strays from all black just because it’s flattering. Even when it comes to clothing choices, I believe life is just too short to live it for anyone other than yourself!

In my every day dressing, I have always been bold in my choices. Head to toe prints, mini skirts, white jeans… basically all things that are said to be unflattering on my curvy body type tend to be the things I am drawn to. I love a big statement and will never hop on the minimalist bandwagon; it just isn’t me. Rather than hide my body, I like to celebrate it and try and help other women discover their own boldness through confidence.

My career is another area where I’ve always followed my passions. I started my own PR company when I was way too young but 10 years later, it’s still a successful business. When I set out to make my rescue pup Toast famous, people rolled their eyes at me but low and behold, now she’s a star. And when I started The12ishStyle, I could hear the peanut gallery saying sarcastically that another fashion blogger is exactly what we need. But I’ve learned by now to ignore the noise and follow my gut. There will be successes and failures along the way, but they say life is a journey so I am all for making it a bold one! And yes, I’ll be doing it in white pants 😉